Suburban man hospitalized after standoff

April 01, 2009

A 39-year-old Arlington Heights man who held off police about six hours was hospitalized in what authorities described as a highly intoxicated state after he surrendered this morning, a police commander said.

The standoff began about 9:30 p.m. and ended about 4 a.m. after police sent tear gas into the home, authorities said.

A neighbor heard what he thought were gunshots and saw the man walking around his house in the 900 block of North Harvard Avenue with a handgun just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, then called police, said Arlington Heights Police Commander Kenneth Galinski.

When the first officer arrived on the scene, he heard nine more shots, then four to seven more, in the home, Galinski said. More officers arrived and the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System was activated, bringing a SWAT team to area, Galinski said. Streamwood police and Mundelein police also sent units to the scene.

Police made contact with the man, who told them he had fired no guns but had set off blasting caps and fired a black-powder pistol. He told police that if they went away, he would turn himself in to police later, Galinski said. He would not come out on his own.

As negotiations continued, police evacuated about 18 homes in the area of Harvard Avenue and Elm Street, Galinski said.

The man began making death threats against police, so officers sent tear gas into the man's home, Galinski said. The man came out of the home, wearing a military-type vest, police said.

Authorities found a number of weapons in the man's home, Galinski said.

Following the standoff, the man was taken to Northwest Community Hospital, but he was too intoxicated for his mental state to be properly evaluated, Galinski said. Detoxification will take about 36 hours, he said.